Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice is one of the most beloved novels of all time, and nothing captures Jane Austen’s vivid emotion and keen wit better than her characters’ correspondence. This deluxe edition pays homage to the power of these epistles, from Lydia’s announcement of her elopement to Mr. Darcy’s honest, beseeching missive to Elizabeth. Glassine pockets placed throughout the book contain removable replicas of all 19 letters in the story. Each one has been re-created with gorgeous, hand-written calligraphy and hand-folded with painstaking attention to historical detail.

In additional text, curator Barbara Heller offers the history of letter writing in Austen’s time, and reveals the detailed process behind creating the letters.

About the Authors

Barbara Heller's career in film and television encompasses finding furnishings and props for many shows including The Americans and When They See Us; location managing films for Francis Coppola, Nancy Meyers, and Barbet Schroeder; making award-winning short films that have played at festivals around the world (Cannes, Berlin, Sundance); and reporting on why hotels fold the end of the toilet paper into a point for NPR. She lives with her son in New York City.

Jane Austen(1775-1841) was the seventh of eight children born to George Austen, an Anglican rector, and Cassandra Austen in Steventon, Hampshire, England. During her adolescence, she penned humorous pieces that greatly entertained her close-knit family. At 19, she wrote a novella, Lady Susan, and soon after began drafts of what would become Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice. After her father died in 1801, Austen, her mother, and beloved older sister Cassandra, moved frequently due to financial difficulties.

In 1809, they settled in Chawton in a cottage owned by her brother, Edward. While residing there, she revised Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice and wrote Emma and Mansfield Park - all published anonymously. Though popular at the time, the novels did not achieve the success or acclaim they enjoy today. In 1816, Austen fell ill with a malady that remains undiagnosed. She died at age 41. Persuasion and Northanger Abbey were published posthumously and Austen's authorial identity was at last revealed. It is estimated that Jane Austen wrote as many as three thousand letters during her lifetime. One hundred and sixty-one of her letters are known to have survived.